What your grandparents ate is affecting you; what you are eating will affect your grandkids: Research

Over eight decades of epigenetics – the study of changes in the expression of genes over generations – scientists are now coming to terms with the notion that what your grandparents ate is affecting you and your kids. Quite precisely, the dietary preferences and expressions run in the family. The nutritional aspects of epigenetics is called nutritional epigenetics.

How our grandparents are affecting our dietary choices?

According to Nathaniel Johnson, Assistant Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of North Dakota; Hasan Khatib, Associate Chair and Professor of Genetics and Epigenetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Thomas D Crenshaw, Professor of Animal and Dairy Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison — the dietary choices a person makes today affects the genetics of their future children.

The roots of epigenetics are in the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during the second World War. The Dutch were forced to live on the rations of 400 to 800 kilocalories against the typical diet of about 2,000 kilocalories. Some 20,000 people died and about 4.5 million were malnourished.

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It was found that dietary shifts in the Netherlands caused changes to a gene called IGF2 that is related to growth and development. This suppressed muscle growth in both the children and grandchildren of Dutch women who survived the dietary challenges posed by the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.

Due to this exact reason, an increased risk of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and low birth weight was reported in the post World War-2 generations of the Netherlands, according to the findings of the'Dutch Hunger Winter'.

Scientific evidence for genetic effects of dietary choice

Human body, within the limits of its survival instinct, attempts to withstand the impact of external challenges.

The traits gained during these periods of challenge, are sometimes inherited to the future generations.

Recently a study in sheep showed that a paternal diet supplemented with the amino acid methionine given from birth to weaning affected the growth and reproductive traits of the next three generations.

(With inputs from agencies)